Cationic polyacrylamides are used extensively in numerous water and process treatment applications. Their high molecular weight and variable charge density make them extremely useful as flocculants for liquid/solid separation, as flotation aids and de-emulsifiers for oil/water clarification and as retention and drainage aids in paper manufacture. The high solution viscosity associated with these polymers when dissolved in water generally precludes their handling as aqueous solutions due to the low active content (usually less than 6%) which can be obtained. As a result, cationic polyacrylamides have generally been handled as either dry powders or water-in-oil emulsions. Due to increasing environmental concerns surrounding the oil and surfactants in emulsions as well as the inconvenience and expense associated with feeding dry powders, efforts to develop alternative delivery systems for these polymers have intensified in recent years.
The goal of these efforts has been to develop delivery systems, in liquid form, having high active content, which do not contain hydrocarbon oil or volatile organic components (VOCs) and which perform comparably to analogous emulsion and powder polymer products.